WATERTOWN — The Brookings Rangers fell short in their quest for a fifth state title over the weekend, dropping a pair of one-goal games for their first South Dakota Amateur Hockey Association State Tournament losses since a year before anyone had heard of COVID-19.

The Rangers lost to Sioux Falls West 3-2 on Friday and to Sioux Falls East 2-1 on Saturday to finish the tournament in fourth place.

For a tense few minutes Friday, the Rangers looked like they were heading to another state final and a matchup with unbeaten — and eventual state champion — Rushmore.

Talon Hyde broke a 1-1 tie that had held for more than 30 minutes of game play to give Brookings a 2-1 lead with 3 minutes to play.

But the final two minutes would be a horror movie for the Rangers and the large crowd that made the drive north on Interstate 29 to cheer them on.

An errant play on an attempted dump in led to a faceoff in the Brookings end, and the Flyers got a shot and a tip off the draw to tie the game.

Before either crowd had a chance to settle back in — just 11 seconds later — Sioux Falls’ Jack Campbell corralled a loose puck high in the Rangers zone and snapped it under the bar on the blocker side to give the Flyers their first lead since late in the first.

The Rangers had a flurry of chances at the end, ultimately playing 6-4 with their goalie pulled and a Flyer off for delay of game, but could not find the equalizer.

Jackson Heller had the other goal for Brookings to tie the game late in the first off an assist from Mason Diers.

Matthew Bothe was in net for the Rangers, who outshot the Flyers 33-23.

That sent Brookings to a somewhat listless third-place game against Sioux Falls East, who took a 1-0 lead over Rushmore into the third period before falling 4-1.

Hyde got the Rangers on the board on the power play at the end of the first period. Credit assist to Riley Linstand and Jay Harris.

But East got a pair of goals from Max Kallas — one in the second and another with five minutes to play — to win third place at the tournament.

Egan Jensen was back in net for the Rangers, who outshot Sioux Falls 46-18.

East goaltender Trey Salonen was stellar for his third straight tournament game. He stopped 135 of 140 shots he saw in the tournament for a 97 percent save percentage.

The state final was never in doubt as Rushmore defeated Sioux Falls West, 7-0. The Thunder capped an unbeaten league season with a state title.

Yankton won the consolation title in its first tournament appearance, downing Mitchell 7-4.